Federal Official Urges Reporting of AIDS Cases
Mandatory reporting of AIDS infection “makes all the sense in the world” to help Americans stricken by the virus receive proper care, a federal health official told the National AIDS Commission on Monday.
Dr. James W. Curran, director of the HIV/AIDS program for the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, said he thinks the time has come to start keeping confidential government records listing the names of people infected with the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus.
AIDS activists have long argued against such mandatory reporting, saying they fear that health agencies cannot ensure that the names of HIV-infected people will not become public. About 20 states require mandatory reporting of the names of HIV-infected people to health officials. However, only a handful actually are implementing that policy, Curran said.
The expense of offering HIV-infected people the proper medical treatment appears to be a major reason that states are dragging their feet in requiring HIV infection to be reported, he said.
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